NYS Senate Bill 286

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NYS Senate Bill 286 is crafted to prohibit the termination of tenancy in certain housing occupied by senior citizens and or persons with disabilities.

What?  You thought NYS Real Property Law anti-discrimination section specifically states that one cannot refuse to rent to someone based on race, age,  religion, gender, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or because the tenant has children or in some jurisdictions, because of occupation or source of income?

Well, it seems there is a loophole in the law because landlords have been terminating or failing to renew leases for tenants in rental buildings where substantially all of the lessees or tenants occupying such units are sixty-five years of age or older and/or are persons with disabilities unless the lessor has caused such as nonpayment of rent. But with this bill, if passed, landlords will now be forced to get prior court approval before this can happen.    It will also require rent increase limits in senior housing and or housing for the disabled rental buildings to no more than one percent above the percentage change in the consumer price index since the start of the tenancy or the most recent renewal.  And it will require the landlords to provide written notice of the lessors’ duties under this section to prospective tenants and outlines penalties for lessors who violate the provisions of this section.